Although quite a tedious exercise for Mr Barber (who, presumably, derived a degree of pleasure from the pursuit quite lost on His Grace), this fiscal verbiage highlights a few interesting facts.
Below illustrates the relative frequencies of words used by George Osborne:
And this illustrates those majored on by Gordon Brown in 1997:
Mr Barber observes:
* George Osborne shoehorned in the word “Billion” as often as possible – hammering home the size of the task. Gordon used this word much more cautiously.
* While Gordon Brown in 1997 talked of “Government Investment”, George Osborne has been characterising it as “Government Spending”.
* Gordon Brown used more optimistic language with “next”, “new”, “first”, “opportunity”, and “future” being some of his most popular phrases.
* Gordon talked a lot more about “tax”. In his 1997 he introduced his windfall tax, while at the same time talking of tax relief in other areas. Osborne has focussed on the other side of fiscal policy…”spending”.
* “Employment” was one of Gordon Brown’s most popular words…George Osborne mentioned it only once - in the phrase "Employment and Support Allowance".
Mr Barber informs us that he is still trying to spot trends, and asks that you might let him know if you spot any.
If, on the other hand, you have a life, His Grace exhorts you to pray for Mr Barber, who appears to need something a little more significant in his life.
